The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that BCE has closed its $3.1-billion deal to acquire Manitoba Telecom Services and says it will begin spending on networks and offering its Fibe television and Internet services in the province.
The Globe's Christine Dobby writes that the companies struck a deal last May but only received the final necessary federal approvals last month. BCE said Friday that it has completed the transaction as planned and will pick up 710,000 wireless, TV and Internet customers.
Manitoba is one of the last provinces with a regional telephone company that offered competition in the wireless market to the Big Three carriers: BCE, Rogers Communications and Telus.
Wireless prices in the province are lower than in many other parts of the country, and to win the blessing of the Competition
Bureau and the Department of Innovation, BCE agreed to transfer 24,700 of its wireless subscribers (plus cellular airwaves and retail stores) to rural Internet provider Xplornet Communications, which plans to launch a new mobile business in the province.
Telus will pick up 110,000 new wireless customers as part of a $300-million side deal. BCE has 470,000 wireless customers in Manitoba.
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